Four-time BJP MLA Premchand Agarwal, who resigned as the Uttarakhand finance minister recently over his alleged anti-Pahari comments, has had a chequered past with many controversies surrounding him.

The former minister was in the dock after he became speaker of the state assembly in 2017 and then a cabinet minister in 2022 in the Pushkar Singh Dhami government.

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After taking over as the state finance minister, Agarwal made in-camera admission to allegations of illegal appointments in the state assembly secretariat when he was speaker from 2017 to 2022. In 2022, his video claiming that no one can harm him went viral in social media without any action from party bosses.

Later, his successor and present assembly speaker Ritu Khanduri ordered a probe and constituted a committee headed by retired IAS officer D K Kotia to investigate the allegations.

Khanduri had to cancel 228 appointments made in the Uttarakhand assembly secretariat between 2016 and 2021 owing to the probe report submitted by the Kotia-led Committee. Khanduri brought this matter to the knowledge of the Centre but in vain.

In 2018, as state assembly speaker Agarwal, landed up in another controversy for appointment of his son as assistant engineer in Jal Sansthan department through Uttarakhand Purva Sainik Kalyan Nigam Limited (UPNL). Although Agarwal’s son was removed after the controversy erupted, it went untouched by the BJP leadership. UPNL is a state government agency that provides re-employment to the ex-servicemen, mainly JCOs and NCOs , in various government departments.

In 2019, the BJP MLA had an heated altercation with the then union minister of state Bhagatram Kothari in the presence of Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat during a meeting on Namami Gange Project in Rishikesh. Agarwal’s conduct was disapproved by the party leaders in Delhi but ignored yet again for any action.

In 2023, a video of Agarwal went viral as he repeatedly slapped a local youth and BJP worker in Dehradun following a verbal spat between the two. Agarwal was allegedly angry as the victim BJP worker failed to give way to his vehicle on the highway due to fast moving traffic. The youth was stopped by Agarwal’s driver and other accomplices, and thrashed by all.

However, immediate provocation for his resignation from Dhami cabinet was Agarwal’s bad mouthing against hill natives in the assembly on February 21 during an argument with opposition legislator Madan Singh Bisht. He had abused the hill-natives and claimed that Uttarakhand was not formed for them alone.

On Sunday afternoon, Agarwal drove to Rampur Crossing memorial Uttar Pradesh and paid tributes to the statehood agitators before announcing his registration late evening in Dehradun. Later, he called upon chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and handed him the resignation letter.

“Statement of a statehood agitator like me was distorted and misrepresented. A person who had to bear the pains of lathis and police brutality for statehood agitation is being targeted,” said Agarwal with tearful eyes and choked voice before announcing his resignation.

Agarwal was forced to resign owing to continued statewide stir across the hill areas for his abusive and unparliamentary language against hill natives.

He had contested and won the assembly elections for the first time in 2007 from Rishikesh. Since then he has been representing Rishikesh undefeated.